Production of metallic beads

ABSTRACT

A method of forming a metallic bead includes forming a metallic cylinder including a closed lower end and an open upper end in an aperture in a die by pressing a metallic sheet into the aperture in the die and swaging the open upper end of the metallic cylinder to form a swaged upper end by applying a concave lower surface of a punch to the open upper end of the metallic cylinder.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Disclosure Aspects and embodiments of the present disclosureare directed generally to the production of metallic beads which may beused in, for example, jewelry.

2. Discussion of Related Art

Beads of precious metals, for example, gold, silver, or platinum, may beused to form beaded jewelry. Beaded jewelry typically includes one ormore beads strung on an elongated slender support, for example, a chainor wire, to form a necklace, pendant, earring, or other form of jewelry.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, there isprovided a method of producing a metallic bead. The method comprisesforming a metallic cylinder including a closed lower end and an openupper end in an aperture in a die by pressing a pierced metallic sheetinto the aperture in the die and swaging the open upper end of themetallic cylinder to form a swaged upper end by applying a concave lowersurface of a first punch to the open upper end of the metallic cylinder.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises forming an aperture inthe closed lower end of the metallic cylinder while the metalliccylinder is present in the aperture in the die.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises thinning the metallicsheet to a thickness substantially similar to a wall thickness of themetallic bead prior to pressing the metallic sheet into the aperture inthe die.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises forming the metallicsheet by rolling a starting material stack including a precious metalbonded to a base metal having a strength greater than the preciousmetal. Producing the metallic bead may comprise producing a gold filledbead.

In some embodiments, forming the metallic cylinder comprises forming theclosed lower end with into a substantially hemispherical shape. Pressingthe metallic sheet into the aperture in the die may comprise pressingthe metallic sheet into the aperture in the die with a convex lower endof a second punch.

In some embodiments, forming the swaged upper end comprises forming theswaged upper end with a substantially hemispherical shape.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises forming an aperture inthe swaged upper end.

In some embodiments, producing the metallic bead comprises producing ato substantially spherical metallic bead.

In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method ofproducing a jewelry item. The method comprises forming a metalliccylinder having a closed lower end by punching a portion of a metallicsheet into an aperture in a die, the aperture having a concave lowersurface, and swaging an upper end of the metallic cylinder by applying afirst punch to the upper end of the metallic cylinder.

In some embodiments, punching a portion of a metallic sheet into theaperture in the die comprises applying a convex lower surface of asecond punch to the metallic sheet.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises forming the metallicsheet by rolling a starting material stack including a precious metalbonded to a base metal having a strength greater than the preciousmetal.

In some embodiments, swaging the upper end of the metallic cylindercomprises substantially closing the upper end of the metallic cylinder.In some embodiments, the method further comprises forming an aperture inthe upper end of the metallic cylinder while the metallic cylinder isdisposed in the aperture in the die.

In some embodiments, swaging the upper end of the metallic cylindercomprises applying a concave lower surface of the first punch to theupper end of the metallic cylinder.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises forming an aperture inthe closed lower end while the metallic cylinder is disposed in theaperture in the die.

In some embodiments, producing the jewelry item comprises producing agold filled bead. Producing the jewelry item may comprise producing thegold filled bead with a substantially circular cross section. Producingthe jewelry item may comprise producing the gold filled bead with asubstantially spherical shape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In thedrawings, each identical or nearly identical component that isillustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. Forpurposes of clarity, not every component to may be labeled in everydrawing. In the drawings:

FIG. 1A is an elevational view of an embodiment of a gold bead;

FIG. 1B is a cross-section of the gold bead of FIG. 1A through line A-A;

FIG. 1C is a cross-section of an another embodiment of a gold bead;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an embodiment of a jewelry item including aplurality of gold beads;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a conventional method of forming gold beads;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a starting material stack for use ina method of forming gold beads;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a method of rolling a metal sheet in amethod of forming gold beads;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a method of deep drawing a portion of ametal sheet in a method of forming gold beads;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a method of hydraulic drawing a metaltube in a method of forming gold beads;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of conventional method of forming goldbeads from metal tube in a method of forming gold beads;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of another method of forming gold beads;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a method of drawing a portion of ametal sheet in the method of forming gold beads of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a method of punching an aperture in aportion of a cupped metal sheet in the method of forming gold beads ofFIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a method swaging a cupped portion of ametal sheet in the method of forming gold beads of FIG. 9;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a fully drawn and swaged portion of ametal sheet in the method of forming gold beads of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of the fully drawn and swaged portion ofthe metal sheet of FIG. 13 with an aperture formed in an upper portionthereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are not limited to the detailsof construction and the arrangement of components set forth in thefollowing description or illustrated in the drawings. Aspects andembodiments disclosed herein are capable of other embodiments and ofbeing practiced or of being carried out in various ways.

Aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are generally directed toprocesses of forming metallic beads for use in jewelry and to jewelryitems including metallic beads. The metallic beads may include one ormore precious metals, for example, gold, silver, or platinum, however,for simplicity, the metallic beads will be referred to herein as goldbeads. The skilled artisan will recognize that the methods describedherein may be applicable to the formation of beads of various metals orcombinations of metals and such beads may be used in applications otherthan jewelry. The present disclosure is intended to encompass beadsformed of these other various metals or combinations of metals andmetallic beads formed for any particular intended use.

An example of a gold bead 100 is illustrated in an elevational view inFIG. 1A and in a cross-sectional view through line A-A of FIG. 1A inFIG. 1B. The gold bead includes a body 105, which may be spherical orsubstantially spherical and which may define a pair of apertures 110. Achain, wire, or other support may be passed through the apertures 110 ofthe gold bead 100 to form a piece of jewelry, for example, a necklace,earring, bracelet, or other form of jewelry. Although indicated as beingsubstantially spherical in FIGS. 1A and 1B gold beads in accordance withaspects and embodiments disclosed herein may also be elongated into asemi-cylindrical configuration as indicated generally as 100A in FIG. 1Cor into a saucer shaped configuration or any other configurationdesired. Aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are not limited to anyparticular shape or size of gold bead.

FIG. 2 illustrates a plurality of gold beads 100, which may be of thesame size and/or shape or of different sizes and/or shapes mounted on asupport 205, for example, a chain or wire, to form jewelry item 200, forexample, a necklace, earring, bracelet, or other form of jewelry. Goldbeads 100 as disclosed herein may have diameters of, for example, about2.5 mm in diameter, about 3 mm in diameter, about 4 mm in diameter,about 5 mm in diameter, and/or up to about 10 mm in diameter. The toapertures 110 may be, for example, about 0.8 mm in diameter for a 3 mmdiameter gold bead. The wall thickness of the gold bead may be about0.25 mm These dimensions, however, are only examples. Aspects andembodiments of gold beads disclosed herein are not limited to anyparticular dimensions or shapes.

In some embodiments, gold beads formed in accordance with methodsdisclosed herein may include a thicker and/or mechanically strongerinner layer including, for example, copper or brass, to add strength andrigidity to an outer layer of gold. The inner layer may add additionalstrength to the bead as compared to beads formed of pure gold. Thesetypes of beads may be referred to as “gold filled beads” in the jewelryindustry. For the sake of simplicity, the term “gold beads” shall beconsidered to encompass “gold filled beads” in the present disclosure.

One process for forming gold beads is illustrated in the flowchart ofFIG. 3, indicated generally at 300. Various operations in the method 300are schematically illustrated in FIGS. 4-8.

In a first operation in the method 300, act 305 (mechanical bonding), astarting material stack 500 (FIG. 4) is formed. The starting materialmay include a sheet of gold 505 bonded to a sheet of a second material510, for example, copper or brass. The second material 510 may bemechanically stiffer and/or stronger than the gold sheet 505 and maythus impart additional strength to the material stack 500 and to a finalgold bead ultimately formed from the starting material stack 500. Thesheet of gold 505 may be bonded to the second material 510 by a thermalbonding process to ensure a true metallurgical bond between the sheet ofgold 505 and the sheet of the second material 510. In some embodiments,the starting material stack 500 (and/or a finished product of the method300) may include 5% or more gold by weight. The starting material stack500 may have a total thickness of about 4 cm, although the methodsdisclosed herein are not limited to utilizing a starting material stackof any particular thickness.

The starting material stack 500 is thinned down and cut into thinnedsheets 650 of desired dimensions in acts of rolling 310 and shearing 315using rollers 605 (FIG. 5) and cutters 610. The acts of rolling 310 andshearing 315 may be repeated until desired dimensions of the thinnedsheets 650 are obtained. On or more acts of annealing may be includedbetween successive acts of rolling.

In act 320, a disc 655 (FIG. 6) is cut from one of the thinned sheets650 using a disc blanking process. The disc 655 may have a diameterslightly less, for example, about 10% less, than the width and/or lengthof the thinned sheet 650 so defects, for example, cracks on theperimeter of the thinned sheet, are not included in the disc 655.

The disc 655 is then deep drawn using, for example, a hydraulic presswhich uses a punch 660 to force the material of the disc 655 into anaperture in a die block 665. The resultant deep drawn article is acylinder 670 having an open upper end 675 and a closed lower end 680.Hydraulic press act 325 may be repeated multiple times with successivelywider punches 660 having successively less clearance from walls of theaperture in the die block 665 in which the cylinder 670 is disposedand/or with die blocks 665 having successively narrower apertures intowhich the cylinder 670 is pressed. The repeated hydraulic press acts 325may increase the length of the cylinder 670 while decreasing its wallthickness until a desired length and/or wall thickness is achieved. Thecylinder 670 may be annealed as desired to maintain ductility betweensuccessive hydraulic press acts 325.

When the cylinder 670 reaches a desired length and/or thickness byhydraulic pressing, acts 340 of hydraulic and/or mechanical drawing maybe utilized to further lengthen and thin the cylinder 670. The closedend of the cylinder 670 may be cut off or punched through so that amandrel 685 may be inserted into the cylinder 670 (now more properlyreferred to as a tube 690) during acts 340 of hydraulic and/ormechanical drawing to facilitate thinning of the tube 690 and to keepthe tube 690 from undesirably deforming or collapsing during hydraulicand/or mechanical drawing. During hydraulic and/or mechanical drawing,the tube 690 may be forced through an aperture 695 in a die 700 (FIG. 7)to lengthen and thin the walls of the tube 690. Additionally oralternatively, the tube 690 may be drawn through dies with internalarbors to reduce the wall thickness and diameter of the tube 690. Thetube may be hydraulically and/or mechanically drawn multiple times untila desired length and/or wall thickness is achieved. Acts of degreasing,annealing, and/or cutting to remove damaged end portions of the tube 690may be performed between successive acts of hydraulic and/or mechanicaldrawing. In some embodiments, prior to drawing through a die, an end ofthe tube 690 may be swaged (act 335) to provide a reduced diameter endthat may more easily fit through a die aperture than an unswaged end ofthe tube 690 so that the swaged end may be gripped and the tube 690drawn through the die.

After the acts of hydraulic and/or mechanical drawing 340, the tube 690has reached a thickness suitable for delivery to bead making processequipment (act 350). A final cutting act 345 may be performed beforedelivering the tube to the bead making process to reduce the length ofthe tube to a length suitable for equipment in a particular facility.

In the bead making process a bead making machine is used to form beads100 from the tube 690. In the bead making machine, the tube 690 isrotated and advanced in steps through the bead making machine whilesuccessive groups of hammers 710 gradually neck the tube 690 atpredetermined lengths along the tube 690. A final set of cutting hammers715 cut beads 100 free from the end of the tube 690 (FIG. 8). Apertures110 are formed in the beads 100 as the beads are cut from the end of thetube 690.

After individual beads 100 are formed in the bead making process, aseries of finishing acts 360 may be performed. These acts may includeannealing and an act of rolling 357 in which individual beads are rolledin a polished steel ring to polish the bead surface and removeimperfections, for example, burrs about the apertures 110.

The beads may be subject to a final degreasing act and/or a tub andshine act where the beads may be washed in a tub with soap and/orpolishing media. After a final inspection act 365, the finished beadsare sent to stock (act 370) to await use.

Method 300 suffers from several disadvantages. The method has a highdegree of material loss. For example, in some implementations of method300 the material included in the finished beads may be as low as about30% of the total starting material. Sources of loss include borders ofthe thinned sheets 650 which are lost when the discs 655 are cut fromthe thinned sheets 650 and losses due to swaging of the ends of the tube690 before the drawing acts 340 and removal of damaged end to portionsof the tube 690 after the drawing acts 340. An approximate loss of about5% may occur at the end of each bead during the actual beading process.

The method 300 produces gold beads which may have certain undesirablefeatures. One such undesirable feature may include a substantialvariation in thickness of the material in different regions of the goldbead. The necking process performed by the hammers of the bead makingmachine in the bead making process (See FIG. 8) causes necking in thematerial between individual beads, substantially reducing the thicknessof the material in these areas. A finished bead produced according tomethod 300 may thus have regions proximate the apertures which issubstantially thinner than material in portions of the bead distal fromthe apertures, for example, material in an equatorial region of thebeads substantially equidistant from the apertures. The reducedthickness of the material proximate the apertures may render the goldbeads weak at these areas and subject to deformation or tearingproximate the apertures.

The method 300 is also more expensive and time consuming than desired.Method 300 exhibits extended cycle time and labor costs due to the largenumber of operations. Method 300 also requires an undesirably highrefining expense to recover gold from scrap.

An improved process for producing gold beads has been developed whichdoes not suffer from the disadvantages of method 300, or at leastexhibits these disadvantages to a lesser degree. An embodiment of thisimproved process is indicated in the flowchart of FIG. 9, indicatedgenerally at 900. Various operations in method 900 are schematicallyillustrated in FIGS. 10-14.

Method 900 begins with a similar act as method 300, act 905(corresponding to act 305 of method 300) of mechanically bonding a layerof gold 505 onto a layer of a base metal 510 utilizing a process thatinsures a true metallurgical bond between the layer of gold 505 and thelayer of a base metal 510. After forming the starting material stack 500(See FIG. 4), the starting material stack is rolled (act 910) andannealed (act 915). Acts 910 and 915 may be repeated until the startingmaterial stack 500 is reduced in thickness by a desired degree. Therolling process of method 900, including acts 910 and 915, differs fromthe rolling act 310 of method 300, however, because the rolling processof method 900 reduces the thickness of the starting material stack 500to form metal sheet having a thickness substantially similar, forexample, to within about 15% or about 10% of a final wall thickness ofmetal beads produced by the process. In contrast, rolling act 310 ofmethod 300 reduces the thickness of the starting material stack 500 toform metal sheet having a thickness that may be substantially greaterthan a final wall thickness of metal beads produced by the process, forexample, about an order of magnitude greater than the final wallthickness of metal beads produced by the process. Method 300 relies onthe subsequent hydraulic and/or mechanical drawing acts 340 to reducethe thickness of the tube 690 to a thickness substantially similar toportions of the final metal beads cut from the tube 690 during the finalbead making process where individual beads are cut from the tube 690.

In act 920 metal sheeting produced by the rolling and annealing acts910, 915 is slit to a desired width. Slitting of the metal sheeting inact 920 may remove edge portions of the metal sheet which may includedefects, for example, cracks or tears. The slit width is dependent onthe size of bead being produced. Scrap generated during the slitoperation may be limited to about 10% or less. Subsequent to slitting inact 920, the metal sheet in delivered to the beading process (act 925)of method 900. The metal sheet may be provided as a long continuousmetal sheet rolled into a spool to form a coil having dimensionsappropriate for downstream bead forming equipment and/or to what ispractical for handling and moving of the coil.

The beading process of method 900 differs from that of method 300. Inact 930 of the beading process of method 900, sheet metal 1005 is drawninto an aperture 1010 of a die 1015 with a punch 1020. The aperture 1010of the die 1015 may have a diameter substantially similar or the same asan outer diameter of a final metal bead to be formed in the process.There is no need to form a column from the metal sheet in the die 1015which is subsequently lengthened by a series of additional hydraulicpress and/or hydraulic and/or mechanical draw operations as in method300 because the metal sheet pressed into the die 1015 in method 900already has a thickness substantially similar to a wall thickness of afinal metal bead to be produced by the to method.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, the aperture 1010 of the die 1015 may have arounded lower end 1025 having a radius of curvature matching orsubstantially matching that of an outer surface of a final gold bead tobe formed in the process. The aperture 1010 of the die 1015 may have aconcave lower end, for example, a substantially hemispherical lower end.The punch 1020 may have a convex lower end 1030 with a curvaturesubstantially similar to that of the lower end 1025 of the column 1010of the die 1015. Act 930 results in the formation of a drawn cylinder1035 having an open upper end 1040 and a closed lower end 1045 in theaperture 1010 of the die 1015. The closed lower end 1045 may have acurved or substantially hemispherical shape. The open upper end 1040 mayextend upward from an upper surface of the die 1015.

The closed lower end 1045 of the cylinder 1035 may be pierced with apunch 1050 (or alternatively, drilled) while in the die 1015 to form anaperture 1010 in the closed lower end 1045 of the cylinder 1035 (FIG.11). The aperture 1010 may be substantially centered in the closed lowerend 1045 of the cylinder 1035.

The cylinder 1035 is then swaged (act 935) by applying a hydraulic punch1055 with a concave lower surface 1060 to the upper end 1040 of thecylinder 1035 to at least partially close or to completely close theupper end 1040 of the cylinder 1035 (FIG. 12). A series of hydraulicpunches 1055 with lower surfaces having different degrees of concavitymay be applied to the cylinder 1035 until the upper end 1040 issubstantially closed (FIG. 13). An aperture 1010 may be punched ordrilled into the upper end 1040 of the cylinder 1035 to form a gold bead100 (FIG. 14). The aperture 101 may be substantially centered in theupper end 1040 of the cylinder 1035. In other embodiments, the aperture101 is not punched or drilled into the upper end 1040 of the cylinder1035, but rather, hydraulic punches 1055 are applied to the upper end1040 of the cylinder 1035 until the sidewalls of the cylinder 1035 closeto a desired degree defining aperture 101.

The gold bead 100 in the die 1015 in FIG. 14 is illustrated as beingoval shaped, but as discussed above, in different embodiments gold beadswhich are substantially spherical, saucer-shaped, or having otherdesired shapes may be formed to by utilizing different tooling, forexample, differently sized and shaped die 1015 and punches 1055. Forexample, for gold beads having a lower height to width ratio than thegold bead 100 in the die 1015 in FIG. 14, a die 1015 having an aperture1010 with a lower aspect ratio and/or punches 1020, 1055 with endshaving lower curvatures than illustrated may be utilized. Further, goldbeads having non-cylindrical cross sections, for example, substantiallysquare, triangular, rectangular, or other cross sections maybe producedwith appropriately shaped draw dies and swaging punches.

The formed gold bead 100 is then removed from the die 1015 and a seriesof finishing operations 945, for example, degreasing, annealing, rolling(act 940), tub and shining, and inspection (act 950) are performed andthe finished gold bead is sent to stock or storage (act 955) to awaituse. Finishing operations 945 may be substantially similar tocorresponding finishing operations 360 of method 300.

In some embodiments a plurality of gold beads 100 are simultaneouslyformed from metal sheet 1005 in the beading process of method 900 usingmultiple die or a die with multiple apertures 1010. The metal sheet 1005may be advanced over the multiple die and/or multiple apertures as thegold beads are formed and removed from the die.

The method 900 may exhibit reduced material losses as compared to method300. In some embodiments method 900 may result in about twice as muchstarting material being included in the finished gold beads than inmethod 300. For example, in some embodiments, method 900 may have amaterial yield (the percentage of starting material in the startingmaterial stack 500 included in the finished gold beads) of about 60% ascompared to a material yield of about 30% for method 300. In someembodiments, the only significant source of loss in method 900 is thedrawing operation which yields approximately 60% of input material. Theincreased material yield of method 900 may result from the eliminationof the tube drawing acts of method 300 and subsequent losses due to tubeswaging and cutting associated with the drawing acts. Method 900 mayalso cause less loss of material when hydraulically pressing materialinto the die (act 930) as compared to the disc blanking act 325 ofmethod 300. This is because the discs of method 300 that are pressedinto the die are substantially smaller than the discs formed in the discblanking act 325 of method to 300. The smaller discs of method 900 mayutilize a greater amount of the metal sheet 1005 than an amount of thethinned sheet 650 used to form discs 655 in method 300 for similarreasons that a greater volume of a jar is occupied when filled bysmaller spheres, for example, ball bearings as compared with largerspheres, for example, marbles.

Method 900 may also produce gold beads having improved propertiesrelative to gold beads formed according to method 300. The bead formingprocess of method 900 subjects the portions of the gold beads includingthe apertures 110 to less mechanical deformation and less thinning thanthe bead forming process of method 300. The gold beads of method 900 maythus have a more consistent thickness in different areas of the goldbeads than the gold beads formed according to method 300.

For example, the wall thickness at the center of beads formed throughmethod 300 may swell by about 10% while the wall thickness proximate theapertures may thin by as much as 50%. These changes in dimensions may besignificantly reduced by using method 900. Method 900 may thus allow forgreater control and uniformity of the thickness of the gold beadsformed.

Gold beads formed according to embodiments of method 900 may be formedinto jewelry items by mounting the gold beads on a support, for example,a wire or chain by passing the support through the apertures in the goldbeads. The jewelry items may include, for example, necklaces, bracelets,earrings, or other forms of jewelry.

Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment, it isto be appreciated various alterations, modifications, and improvementswill readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations,modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of thisdisclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope of thedisclosure. One or more features of any one embodiment disclosed hereinmay be combined with or substituted for one or more features of anyother embodiment disclosed. Accordingly, the foregoing description anddrawings are by way of example only.

The phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescription to and should not be regarded as limiting. As used herein,the term “plurality” refers to two or more items or components. As usedherein, dimensions which are described as being “substantially similar”should be considered to be within about 25% of one another. The terms“comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” and“involving,” whether in the written description or the claims and thelike, are open-ended terms, i.e., to mean “including but not limitedto.” Thus, the use of such terms is meant to encompass the items listedthereafter, and equivalents thereof, as well as additional items. Onlythe transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentiallyof,” are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, withrespect to the claims. Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,”“third,” and the like in the claims to modify a claim element does notby itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claimelement over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method areperformed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claimelement having a certain name from another element having a same name(but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of producing a metallic bead, the methodcomprising: forming a metallic cylinder including a closed lower end andan open upper end in an aperture in a die by pressing a metallic sheetinto the aperture in the die; and coning the open upper end of themetallic cylinder to form a swaged upper end by applying a concave lowersurface of a first punch to the open upper end of the metallic cylinder.2. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming an aperture in theclosed lower end of the metallic cylinder while the metallic cylinder ispresent in the aperture in the die.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising thinning the metallic sheet to a thickness substantiallysimilar to a wall thickness of the metallic bead prior to pressing themetallic sheet into the aperture in the die.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising forming the metallic sheet by rolling a startingmaterial stack including a precious metal bonded to a base metal havinga strength greater than the precious metal.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein producing the metallic bead comprises producing a gold filledbead.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein forming the metallic cylindercomprises forming the closed lower end with into a substantiallyhemispherical shape.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein pressing themetallic sheet into the aperture in the die comprises pressing themetallic sheet into the aperture in the die with a convex lower end of asecond punch.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein forming the swaged upperend comprises forming the swaged upper end with a substantiallyhemispherical shape.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprisingforming an aperture in the swaged upper end.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein producing the metallic bead comprises producing a substantiallyspherical metallic bead.
 11. A method of producing a jewelry item, themethod comprising: forming a metallic cylinder having a closed lower endby punching a portion of a metallic sheet into an aperture in a die, theaperture having a concave lower surface; and coning an upper end of themetallic cylinder by applying a first punch to the upper end of themetallic cylinder.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein punching aportion of a metallic sheet into the aperture in the die comprisesapplying a convex lower surface of a second punch to the metallic sheet.13. The method of claim 11, further comprising forming the metallicsheet by rolling a starting material stack including a precious metalbonded to a base metal having a strength greater than the preciousmetal.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein swaging the upper end of themetallic cylinder comprises substantially closing the upper end of themetallic cylinder.
 15. The method of claim 14, further comprisingforming an aperture in the upper end of the metallic cylinder while themetallic cylinder is disposed in the aperture in the die.
 16. The methodof claim 11, wherein swaging the upper end of the metallic cylindercomprises applying a concave lower surface of the first punch to theupper end of the metallic cylinder.
 17. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising forming an aperture in the closed lower end while themetallic cylinder is disposed in the aperture in the die.
 18. The methodof claim 11, wherein producing the jewelry item comprises producing agold filled bead.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein producing thejewelry item comprises producing the gold filled bead with asubstantially circular cross section.
 20. The method of claim 19,producing the jewelry item comprises producing the gold filled bead witha substantially spherical shape.